Economy/Resources - 163. page

On March 19, 2014, Economic Information, a publication under Xinhua News Agency published an article calling on governments at all levels stay calm as China’s housing prices, from the Yangtze River Delta region to the first-tier cities nationwide, continue to fall. The downturn in housing prices will inevitably have a negative impact on China’s macro-economic growth and financial stability. According to the article, the impact of the “adjustment of property markets” is still under control.

Source: Economic Information, March 19, 2014
http://www.jjckb.cn/2014-03/19/content_496046.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2014-03/19/c_119831357.htm

In the first quarter of 2014, the People’s Bank of China conducted a survey of twenty thousand urban depositors in 50 cities. The results showed that 64.3 percent of the residents believe that current housing prices are "unacceptably high," 33 percent believe that current prices are "acceptable," while only 2.7 percent of the residents believe they are "satisfactory." Within the next three months, 15 percent of residents will be ready to buy a housing unit. This figure is 2.7 percent higher than the previous quarter and 0.2 percent higher than the same period last year.

The report showed that 55.8 percent of residents believe that the general price level is "unacceptably high." 32.6 percent of the population expected the price level to continue to climb, 48.5 percent expected the price level to remain "basically unchanged."

Source: Xinhua, March 22, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2014-03/22/c_119890856.htm

Xinhua published an article discussing what the situation of a collapsed real estate market in China would look like. 

On March 12, 2013, China Youth Daily published an article on the serious local government debt problems in China. Currently, China’s local governments owe 18 trillion yuan in debt. In order to pursue a higher GDP, local governments blindly borrow money without considering at all how to pay it back. Some officials said that borrowing money has become local governments’ economic opium. They wish they could stop but they cannot help borrowing more and more. According to the article, in order to help local authorities get rid of this “addiction,” it may be necessary to integrate local government’s credit rating system into cadre’s evaluation system.

Source: China Youth Daily, March 12, 2014
http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2014-03/12/nw.D110000zgqnb_20140312_1-T01.htm?fina

People’s Daily recently published an article stating that the average height of Chinese males between 7 and 17 years of age is 2.54 cm (1 inch) shorter than males in Japan and Korea. It also reported that the physical condition of Chinese youths has worsened steadily over the past 25 years. Wu Zhenxian, deputy to the People’s Congress and a teacher from Beijing who holds the distinguished teacher’s title raised the concern. According to Wu, based on the results of a physical examination of students from Beijing High School in 2012, the physical condition of the youths in strength, speed, and endurance has declined while near-sightedness and obesity rates have increased. Results showed that only 10 percent of the students passed the test. In the meantime, schools are concerned about the potential liability caused by injury due to physical activities. Wu is calling for safety regulations to be established to protect both students and schools from liabilities due to such injuries. Wu also mentioned that Beijing is facing a severe shortage of teaching resources where elementary schools face a 47 percent shortage and the shortage in middle schools is at 68 percent. She is asking colleges to train more teachers and the Ministry of Education to loosen up restrictions on the quota for teachers from outside of Beijing to join the teaching workforce in Beijing.

Source: People’s Daily, March 7, 2014
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2014/0307/c1002-24555332.html

According to People’s Daily, the recent talks that both Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang gave indicate that the central administration still places the reform of SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) as its top priority in the overall progress of reform. As can be seen in the Report on the Work of the Government given by Li Keqiang, the words “reform of SOEs” were mentioned 77 times. In his speech, Xi Jinping stressed that the SOEs shall continue to improve and reform can occur more quickly. The article said that the central administration will introduce a measure called the “diversified ownership concept." The non-SOEs can invest in SOE projects in areas such as finance, oil, electrics, railroads, telecommunications, energy development and public services. In the meantime, non-SOEs will be issued a permit to operate in certain SOE fields. The article said that, currently, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, local governments, and SOEs are working closely to develop a plan.

Source: People’s Daily, March 9, 2014
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2014/0309/c1004-24579745.html

According to Xinhua, in February, Beijing’s new home sales were particularly disappointing. As of February 23, new home sales were 1,545 units, a 61.5 percent drop compared to same period last year. The monthly sales were even below normal weekly sales. Existing home sales were equally disappointing. As of February 25, there were 4, 224 existing home sales, a 45 percent decline compared to the same period last year. The fourth week in September last year saw 4,201 home sales, three times the monthly sales of February 2014. In November and December 2013, the weekly sales were above 1,500.